


A Heart Never Forgets

by Casey_Wolfe



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death (Past), Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Reunions, Romance, Tumblr: otpprompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 00:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5475845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casey_Wolfe/pseuds/Casey_Wolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack is grown enough to know his father isn’t happy.  He never imagined that the reason for it would be that Brian was missing his former lover, Carter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Heart Never Forgets

**Author's Note:**

> This is post-Fast 4 where they were able to get the pardon for Dom.

His father had raised him alone.  Well, not really _alone_.  They had Uncle Dom and an array of men and women who were family, not by blood but simply because they were.  As far as Jack was concerned, they were his Aunts and Uncles too.

Jack didn’t know his mother outside the stories he was told.  He had seen pictures though and she was very pretty.  From everything he was told, he knew he would have loved her.  Unfortunately she had been stolen away from them by death the day he was born.

Complications they said.  Hemorrhaging.  There was nothing anyone could do.

But Jack never wanted for anything, least of all love.  His dad and Uncle Dom lived together, raising him.  And of course there was always the extended family coming and going from their various adventures around the world.

Of course part of that comfort was bought by ill-gotten means, something Brian and Dom had never hidden from him.  In fact, Brian had told Jack all about how he came into the Toretto family, how he’d met them while undercover.  Then there was Brian’s short time with the FBI and how they had finally been able to bring their family all together again.

Jack knew his dad loved him, loved their diverse and extended family.  He knew Brian was generally a happy person.  But there were days that Jack could see how lonely his dad seemed.

“Dad,” Jack prompted one day in the garage.  “Why haven’t you ever brought anyone home?”

Brian paused with his head under the hood of the car they were working on for Jack as part of his sixteenth birthday present.  He straightened, looking over at Jack with a carefully neutral expression.  “What?”

Jack huffed, leaning back against the bumper.  “I get ya didn’t wanna bring anyone around when I was little or whatever.  And that you prolly were still mourning Mom, but…”  He met Brian’s eyes.  “I’m old enough to know that you don’t date.  You never have as far as I can tell.  And I wanted to know why.”

Brian sighed, wiping his hands on a rag as he rested on the car next to Jack.  “It’s true that I loved your mom.  I did.  But honestly we would have never stayed together if it hadn’t been for you.”  He figured his son deserved to know the truth of it, especially as he was old enough now to understand.  “We just weren’t the ones for each other, and we both knew it.”

“So…”  Jack shifted, brows lowered.  “Then why haven’t you tried to find that person?”

“Because I already found him.”

Brian weaved a tale that Jack had never heard about from anyone.  After the botched undercover op, Brian ran to Miami where he was blackmailed into taking down a drug lord.  Except Brian had fallen in love, and was still in love, with Carter Verone.

Jack hadn’t thought past the desire to see his father happy when he snuck out of the house in the middle of the night with just a backpack.  He hitchhiked out of L.A. before finding a used car dealership where he found an old Eclipse sitting in the back, neglected.  He paid for it with cash, fixing it up along the way to Miami by winning street races against unsuspecting locals.

He smiled as he pulled up to a garage in Miami.

* * *

Only a few nights in town, Jack mostly hung around the racing scene.  Aunt Suki had welcomed him in with open arms, although he made her promise to keep his presence there a secret from Brian and Dom.  Suki gave him a stern look but agreed when Jack used his puppy eyes.  They may not have worked on his dad and Uncle Dom anymore, but Suki was still a sucker for them.

Uncle Tej would have ratted him out in a second, so it was just as well that he and Uncle Rome were off in the Bahamas on their honeymoon.  It allowed him about a week to figure out where to find Carter Verone.

Apparently his asking around with the locals had gotten some attention because the next thing he knew he was being approached at the garage by two intimidating looking men.  “Come with us,” the first ordered but Jack jutted his chin.

The other threatened, “You don’t want to keep Mr. Verone waiting.”

Jack glanced over his shoulder, noting that Aunt Suki and Jimmy were busy with all their guests at the race after-party to notice.  Nodding, he allowed the men to lead him away before driving him off to an unknown location.  He could hear his father berating him in his head the entire time.  But then, he was his father’s son, or so he’d been told.

They arrived at a posh mansion by the water, the description matching Brian’s story.  Jack leaned in between the front seats, looking between the men.  “So you wouldn’t happen to be Roberto and Enrique would you?”  From the guarded glances he received, he was going to take that as a ‘yes.’

He was led through the mansion to an office off the livingroom.  A suave looking man sat behind a desk, feet kicked back onto it and a cigar between his teeth.  “Sit,” he ordered Jack, one of his shadows standing off to the side of the desk while the other took a place by the door.  Definitely Roberto and Enrique.

“Well kid,” Carter began after Jack took a seat across from him, “you’ve been asking all around about me.  Here I am.”  He watched Jack carefully, eyes calculating.  “The question is… why?”

“My name’s Jack O’Conner.  You knew my dad…  Brian.”

That caught Carter’s attention, his legs sweeping down and he moved closer to the desk, leaning his forearms on it.  Taking a closer look, Jack could see the moment Carter realized it was true.  “You have his eyes.”

Jack couldn’t help but smile a little.  He’d been told that before and the girls seemed to really love them.  He believed the stories his Uncles told about how much of a heartthrob his father was back in the day.  Not as though Brian were _old_ or something.

“Doesn’t explain why you’re here,” Carter pointed out, snapping out of the moment he’d fallen into, undoubtedly filled with memories.

Jack shrugged.  “My dad misses you.  He only just told me about you last week, and…”  Jack sighed, elbow coming down on the desk, head resting on his hand.  “Dad hasn’t exactly been… happy.  And I called him on it.  That’s when he admitted he was still in love with you.”

That took Carter off guard and he leaned back into his chair as though the force of the words had knocked him back.

“I just want him to be happy.  If that means you’ll make him happy then…”  Jack shrugged, sitting back himself.  “I came to find you so I could tell you.  What you do with it is up to you, I guess.”

* * *

Carter felt happiness blooming in his chest.  It was almost too hard to believe.  But then where Brian O’Conner was concerned, he could believe just about anything.  “I never forgot about him,” Carter confessed.  “I tried to find him after…”  He didn’t want to think about how it ended between them, how Brian had been forced to play the part- at Carter’s own insistence.  “Well, I guess even my sources have limits.”

“He joined the FBI,” Jack supplied.  “He said he couldn’t afford to see you or else it would ruin his career.  And he needed the Feds to help bring my Uncle Dom and the rest of the family home.”  Carter nodded, knowing what had happened back in L.A. to drive his lover to his doorstep in the first place.  “After though…”  Jack gave a frustrated sigh.  “Dad said he didn’t think you would still want him after all that time.”

A strangled noise left Carter’s throat before he could stop it.  “Not want him?”  Carter couldn’t belie- again, Brian O’Conner; he believed it.  He ranted under his breath in Spanish.

“I know, right?” Jack came back with, a smirk on his face.  “Sometimes I swear he’s dense.  Uncle Dom agrees.”

“Dense wouldn’t be the word I’d use,” Carter muttered.  He sighed, setting aside his cigar.  “Well, I suppose the inevitable is coming.”  At Jack’s confused look, he explained, “Brian is bound to be right behind you.”

Jack gave him a huge, shit-eating grin that reminded him so much of Brian that it made his heart hurt.  The kid’s skin and hair were darker, but the features, eyes, and that smile was pure Brian.  “I was raised by a bunch of ex-criminals Mr. Verone,” he pointed out.  “I only used cash, checked into places using false names, bought a pre-paid cell…”

Carter couldn’t help but grin in turn, feeling a sense of pride.  So much like Brian.  All the same, Carter had to be the responsible one.  He pushed the desk phone towards Jack.  “Call him.  Tell him where you are.”

Jack looked at the phone like it would bite him. “Do I have to?”

“At least he can’t strangle you through the phone.”

That would require Brian to show up in Miami.  All that was left to do was wait.

* * *

Brian arrived at the compound like a storm.  Dom had wanted to come with him but he ordered the man to stay put at Tej’s garage.  He pulled around back out of habit, door slamming shut on his blue Skyline like an echo through time.

As he walked up the path towards the house, he saw his son playing in the pool and felt relief wash over him.  “Jack!” he yelled, startling the teenager.  He pulled Jack into his arms once he’d scrambled from the pool, torn between anger and happiness.

Catching movement from the corner of his eye, Brian looked to find Carter coming out of the house.  His heart leapt up into his throat.  Carter was still gorgeous, still had that confident swagger and sly smile.  “Brian.”  The words came out like a caress as he stopped next to them and there was no helping his reaction.

Brian flung himself against Carter, kissing him soundly.  The brunette’s arms wrapped around him, pulling them flush as he kissed back.

“Oh God,” Jack groaned.  “Get a room.”

“You,” Brian replied, forcing himself to pull away from Carter to whirl on his son.  He had to clear his throat in order to sound stern, having been consumed by emotion.  “You are in big trouble.  You have no idea…  Your Uncle Dom is down at the garage talking to Aunt Suki by the way.”  Jack ducked his head, worrying his lower lip.  “You’re lucky she doesn’t get in trouble too, but knowing you there were a pair of puppy eyes involved.”

“I can’t help it Aunt Suki loves me,” Jack argued.  He smirked then as he added, “Besides, don’t I get credit for the happy reunion?”

Brian huffed, shoving his son backwards straight into the pool.  As he came up sputtering, Brian promised, “We’ll be talking later.”  He turned back to Carter, deflating almost instantly as the hint of a smile crossed his lips.  “I think we need to talk first though.”

Carter grinned, taking Brian’s hand to lead him inside.  “You know,” he mentioned, “maybe you should go easy on Jack just this once.”  He pressed his forehead to the side of Brian’s.  “After all, he did bring you back to me Corazon.”

“We’ll see,” Brian whispered, but there was an equally fond smile on his face.  He pressed his lips back to Carter’s.  “I don’t exactly want to talk about Jack right now.”

Brian led Carter up the stairs, remembering the way to the master bedroom.  They had a lot of years to make up for.

/End

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://thedenofcaseywolfe.tumblr.com/).
> 
> The prompt was: Imagine Person A is a single parent with a teenager (not Person B’s). One day, the teenager asks Person A about why they aren’t with anyone right now, and A goes through all of their relationships, including Person B. At mention of B, A gets upset, because they were heads over heels in love with each other but had to break up due to something outside of their control (job/parents/etc). The night after A tells their child all this, their teenager runs away (with friends or not is up to you), determined to find B with only a few clues to go on. Whether they find B and where B is right now (including if B is in a relationship with someone else) is also up to you.


End file.
